This disclosure relates to passenger restraint systems for use in vehicles, particularly, to supplemental passenger restraining or positioning harness systems.
Conventional three-point restraint systems combining a lap belt and an upper torso belt are well known. These three-point restraint systems are usually used with seats offering rigid support for the belts. As typically used in a vehicle, the three-point restraint system consists of a single belt having its opposite ends mounted to a pair of retractors with a seat belt tongue connected to the belt intermediate to the belt ends. The tongue may be swung across the passenger and engaged with a buckle affixed to the seat thereby positioning one portion of the belt across the lap and another portion of the belt across the chest or upper torso. A passenger may be any occupant of the vehicle, including the driver.
Supplemental restraint systems may be needed by certain passengers such as, for example, infants, children, small passengers, handicapped passengers, race car or stunt car drivers, or any other passenger desiring supplemental restraint. Various types of supplemental restraint systems have been fashioned for use by these users. For example, child seats for infants and booster seats for children between 30 and 60 pounds, mount to a vehicle for restraint of a child. Examples of booster seats are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,797,654 to Stroud, 5,829,834 to Silverman, and 5,685,604 to Kain, which are incorporated by reference herein. An Example of a restraint harness is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,014 to Murray, the disclosure of which is now incorporated herein by reference.
The federal government has mandated that child restraint anchorage systems be installed in most vehicles, including cars, trucks, and certain school buses. These regulations, codified at 49 C.F.R. § 571.225 (FMVSS 225), incorporated herein by reference, require two lower anchor members or anchorages and an upper tether anchor member or anchorage of specified configuration, location and strength parameters. Similarly, 49 C.F.R. § 571.213 (FMVSS 213), incorporated herein by reference, specifies the dimensions of tether hooks used to attach a tether strap to a tether anchorage. Disclosed herein are supplemental restraint systems configured to mount to vehicles using the anchorages specified in 49 C.F.R. §§ 571.225 and 571.213. These supplemental restraint systems may also be compatible with 49 C.F.R. Ch.V, § 571.222, Standard No. 222 (FMVSS 222), which is incorporated herein by reference, and which is applicable to school bus seats. Commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/245,983 discloses supplemental restraint systems for use with a school bus seat in accordance with FMVSS 222.
In one aspect, this invention is a restraining device for mounting an occupant to the seat of a vehicle, such as, for example, a car, a van, or a bus, wherein any such vehicle has at least one rigid member mounted in the bight of the seat between the seat's seat and back portions. The restraining device may be a harness, a belt system, a child seat, or a booster seat, any of which may be configured to utilize any suitable coupling.
Additional features will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.